Russia

The Committee to Protect Journalists' 2014 International Press Freedom Awards honor, from left, Mikhail Zygar, Ferial Haffajee, Aung Zaw, and Siamak Ghaderi, who endured and defied media repression in Russia, South Africa, Burma, and Iran. Nguyen Van Hai, who was in prison when his award was presented in 2013, is now free and attended the November 25 event. Jorge Ramos, co-anchor on Univision News since 1986, is presented with the Burton Benjamin Memorial Award. In total, more than $2.7 million has been raised for CPJ through the ceremony and New Initiatives Fund. Profiles, videos, and speeches

In January, Russia's state media regulator Roskomnadzor issued warnings to six news outlets that published cartoons from French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo. Roskomnadzor said the cartoons were "insulting the religious feelings of Muslims and inciting religious hatred," and that the outlets had broken laws on media and extremism, Russian news agency Tass reported.

Protests against the French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdowere held in Afghanistan, Pakistan, the Middle East and parts of Africa over the weekend, as crowds demonstrated against the magazine's portrayal of the Prophet Muhammad, according to news reports.

New York, January 26, 2015--Authorities in Crimea should stop targeting the independent regional broadcaster ATR immediately, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today after the broadcaster was raided and its equipment seized.

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New York, January 22, 2015--The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the conviction and three-year sentence handed to critical reporter Sergei Reznik in Russia today and calls on authorities to overturn the verdict on appeal.

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New York, January 14, 2015--An independent journalist was attacked on Tuesday in the Russian city of Saratov, according to news reports. The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the assault and calls on authorities to investigate and to consider journalism a motive in the crime.

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Russian actor Mikhail Porechenkov has joined basketball star Dennis Rodman, who declared North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un his best friend, and Jennifer Lopez who sang "Happy Birthday Mr. President" to the authoritarian leader of Turkmenistan, on the list of celebrities who have made human rights faux pas.

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Breaking the Cycle of Impunity in the Killing of Journalists

The lack of justice in hundreds of murders of journalists around the world is one of the greatest threats to press freedom today. While international attention to the issue has grown over the past decade, there has been little progress in bringing down rates of impunity. States will have to demonstrate far more political will to implement international commitments to make an impact on the high rates of targeted violence that journalists routinely face. A special report by the Committee to Protect Journalists

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About This Report

Elisabeth Witchel, the founder of CPJ’s Global Campaign Against Impunity, is the lead author of this report. Witchel launched the campaign in 2007 and has compiled five editions of the organization’s annual Global Impunity Index as well as several other major reports. She has worked in human rights and journalism for more than 15 years and participated in missions to Pakistan, Nepal, and the Philippines, among others. In 2010, she organized CPJ’s Impunity Summit, bringing together 40 representatives from more than 20 press freedom organizations to identify challenges and strategies to combat impunity in violence against journalists.

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1. What Does Impunity Mean?

In 1981, the year CPJ was founded, Argentina was enmeshed in the so-called Dirty War, in which dozens of journalists were disappeared. Most were never seen again. To this day, no one has systematically documented the media murders that took place, and no one knows precisely how many journalists perished. Not surprisingly, given the information void, there was little international attention on journalists’ disappearances or the broader human rights catastrophe that many of the murdered reporters were seeking to cover.